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Steve Rowlan, chairman of the Environmental Management Commission for the past year, is resigning and moving to Utah.

He announced his resignation via email to his fellow EMC members Monday. Rowlan was the director of environmental affairs for Nucor, a Charlotte steel company, until his retirement last July. “I am excited to pursue these new ventures, particularly since they involve more business opportunity versus environmental regulation efforts, which I find to be a pleasing change of pace after 30 years as an environmental engineer,” he wrote.

Rowlan stoked controversy among the EMC last April when he removed Steve Tedder, a water pollution biologist, from the chairmanship of the Water Quality Committee. Tedder had asked about a DEQ report evaluating the SolarBee project that had been retracted online. Rowlan had also removed Kevin Martin as chair of the Groundwater and Waste Management Committee.

Gov. Pat McCrory appointed Rowlan to the 15-member EMC in December 2015; his term expires in 2019. The terms of seven more EMC members expire in June of this year; four of those seats will be appointed (or reappointed) by Gov. Cooper; two by House Speaker Tim Moore and one by Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger.